Look what I just learned!

27102011

Angela Quarles’ post on ripping out ‘to be’ verbs just ate my lunch. I choose ‘to be’ verbs all the time in my writing, to the point that my almost 100,000 word tome will probably lose 10,000 of them when I finally get to the editing stage. Thank you Angela! Eventually I’ll get to #amediting, which will be fun with your advice!

Then there’s edittorrent’sseriesofposts on ‘Dressing and Dining’, which I will be chewing on for a while. I’ve been wondering what to do about my my characters’ daily routines, and it seems that if it doesn’t move the plot forward, cut it. These three posts shed light on something that I didn’t realize I needed to know.

Then there’s Chuck Wendig‘s blog, which I would follow if I could just figure out how to follow blogs. I love his sense of humor (note: it’s not for the faint of heart – if the ‘f-word’ offends you, don’t read his stuff!), and his’25 suggestions for torturing your characters’ post was both enlightening and entertaining. I laughed. I snorted. I scared the dog.

Edited to add: Jocelyn K. Glei’s compilation of 25 tips from famous writers. Seriously, I need to print this one out and paste it all over my walls.

Thx, Angela. This is all a bit overwhelming for me, as I’ve never had a creative writing class in my life. In some ways I see myself as more of a storyteller than a writer… but I’m determined to write as well as I tell the story. Thanks for your post – it opened my eyes to what I have to learn. And learning is good!